Company continues to bid on highway projects

A former construction company executive from western Iowa has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of inflating the cost of a highway project by more than $800,000.

But the company itself, K & L Construction of Sergeant Bluff, continues to work on other taxpayer-financed, multimillion-dollar road projects.

Federal court records indicate that last year, while Jenna Wilson was serving as K & L’s vice president, the company was working as a subcontractor on a highway interchange project along Interstate 29 in Sioux City.

As part of that project, K & L ordered 51,000 units of EPS, or expanded polystyrene. EPS is typically sold in foam blocks or sheets that are used in the construction of roads, retaining walls and bridge abutments to absorb some of the stress on those structures.

K & L purchased the EPS from Benchmark Foam. In court records, Wilson admits that she doctored a series of invoices from Benchmark to make it appear that the cost per unit was up to $16 greater than what Benchmark actually billed.

Wilson then forwarded the doctored invoices to the Iowa Department of Transportation for payment.

The alterations inflated the total cost of the EPS by $807,637.

The overbilling apparently was uncovered before the DOT paid for the expanded polystyrene. Court records say the DOT sustained no losses as a result of Wilson’s actions, but those same documents contemplate the payment of restitution to the “Iowa Department of Transportation for economic losses” of up to $34,432.

Before Wilson was criminally charged in the matter, she met with prosecutors and agreed to plead guilty to one count of falsifying records in connection with a highway project.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but as part of a plea deal she is expected to avoid prison time and will pay a fine of $34,432 — the same amount as the restitution she has agreed to pay.

Court records indicate Wilson was criminally charged after the Iowa DOT and the Federal Highway Administration brought the matter to the attention of federal prosecutors.

According to filings made with the Iowa secretary of state’s office last year, an individual named “Wilson” — no first name is given, although the home address matches that of Jenna Wilson and her husband, Derek — serves as K & L’s vice president and one of its two corporate directors.

Jenna Wilson told The Des Moines Register that K & L continues to bid on highway projects in both Iowa and South Dakota.

A spokesman for the Iowa Department of Transportation disputed that and said K & L is no longer eligible to bid on the Iowa agency's road projects but is working on previously contracted projects.

Government documents indicate K & L has bid on highway projects in South Dakota as recently as May.

Wilson, reached by phone, said she is no longer affiliated with the company and is unsure why corporate records don’t reflect that fact.